"Ladies." Dylan nodded in greeting to the pair of elderly women collecting their mail from the panel of little brushed metal doors taking up half the wall in what passed for the building's lobby.
"Afternoon," the tall one in the blue blouse replied, smiling cheerfully at Dylan. Her companion gave a friendly wave, giggling.
He held his breath during the brief elevator ride. The super kept promising to do something about the drunks that treated it like their own personal bathroom. But since the most frequent perpetrator was her own son, everyone in the building knew it was a lost cause.
Alex and Vincent were laughing, mocking some show on the TV in disgust as Dylan walked in. Ian took up the end third of the couch next to his boyfriend, wearing his usual expression of being perpetually adrift in the swift sea of the other two's rapid-fire Spanish. Seeing Dylan, he perked up, but the sunshine was quickly eclipsed by a storm cloud that'd recently become all-too familiar.
"Hey, Dylan…" Ian began hesitantly, obviously uncomfortable broaching the well-worn subject.
"Hey," Dylan interrupted him, as casually and cheerfully as if he were merely replying to a greeting. "Glad I caught you. Iknow I said I'd get you that $400 I owe for rent by tomorrow, but $200 just landed in my account this morning and my paycheck from the computer lab doesn't come in until Friday. Do you mind if I pay you now before it gets whittled down, and the rest at the end of the week?"
Ian's pinched expression cleared, the relief replacing it only making Dylan feel that much guiltier. His roommates were stand up guys, and he felt like such a heel coming up short every month. If that meant the dozen packets of ramen —
And an apple. Thank you, bodega busybody.
– he’d just bought were the sum total of his food budget for the next few days to cover it, then so be it. Not as if Dylan hadn't been through worse.
“Yeah, that'll be fine,” Ian said. “Hey, we're all gonna go to The Bodyshop tonight. You in?”
Internally, Dylan grimaced, though his pasted-on smile didn't slip an inch. It'd be good to hang out, and maybe if the gay bar didn't charge a $20 cover to walk in the door he could swing it. The idea of finding some hottie to fuck the memory of Ashton out of his system was pretty appealing too.
But that $200 he'd promised Ian really was scraping the bottom of his account. Risk their pity and go back on it, justso he could catch some dick?
Naw, not worth it.
…Probably.
Besides, he had business to take care of if he wanted to makenextmonth’s rent.
And preferably not late this time.
And if the guys are out clubbing it up, I won't have to be careful about keeping it quiet.
“Wish I could, but I've an Algebra assignment
– “
“Boo!” Vin interrupted, he and Alex’s show apparently forgotten as Dylan found himself the center of all three of his roommates’ attention. “You’re always studying. Come dance with us tonight!”
“Vin,” Alex said in a low voice, his expression uncomfortably knowing.
Ian glanced at his boyfriend, and Dylan did not flinch to see those eyes widen in realization, before darkening with something too uncomfortably close to pity. Yeah – this conversation was about to head in directions he didn't want it to go, and fast. That he was sure of.
“I’ll spot you,” Saint Ian offered. “Or you can pay rent on Friday when your paycheck comes in, like you said.”
Yep, time to be anywhere but here.
“Look, Papi – it's cute how bad you wanna see me shake my ass, really. But you gotta be cool or Alex’s gonna find out about us,” Dylan mock-whined, enjoying the painfully embarrassed expression spreading across Alex's face where he sat next to Ian.
“But – “
“Not failing my Algebra class for your amusement either, Vin,” Dylan interrupted him, already moving toward the safety of his room. “You kids have fun, and don't do anyone I wouldn't do.”
Dylan didn't slam his door, but only by dint of being very, very careful not to. He didn't want the guys thinking he was angry, just…
The three of them grew up here. It's not their fault they don't know what it's like.
There was a lot Dylan's roommates took for granted. So what if Alex wasn't actually born on this side of the border? His dad was American, and he'd been brought over as a baby. Ian's background might've been unusual but there'd never been any question of his citizenship, and even Vin was from Puerto Rico.
